Concrete Angel
by whitedove03
Summary: Song fic. OneShot. Very angsty.


Ok I was listening to Concrete Angel by Martina McBride and this fic came to me. Hope you all like it. Concrete Angel 

She walks to school with the lunch she packed  
Nobody knows what she's holdin' back  
Wearin' the same dress she wore yesterday  
She hides the bruises with linen and lace

The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask  
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask  
Bearing the burden of a secret storm  
Sometimes she wishes she was never born

Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel

Natalie Balsom walked to school wearing a tattered dress that her mom Roxy probably got off the garbage pile. Tugging the sleeve down over her arms to hide the bruises that were there, she walked looking at the ground. Life with Roxy went from bad to worse since Rex had left. Roxy had taken to hitting her when she lost at the tracks or whenever anything else went wrong.

At 8 years old she was already too familiar with the harsh realities of life. Too scared to say anything about what went on at home and too young to know that this was not normal she simply accepted the slaps and punches as what happened with everyone. She held the meager lunch that she made herself tighter and kept walking, not looking at anyone else even when they tried to talk to her.

Sitting in class she was silent unless someone asked her a question directly. Keeping her face stoic when she received a questioning glance from her teacher when her shirt had rode up her arm too much. The fear and the hurt of life not showing on her beautiful face as little Natalie struggled not to betray an ounce of emotion to the pitying looks and cruel taunts she received from the other children. She simply took everything they threw at her and wished she were anywhere else but there, wishing she didn't have to be on the planet at all.

Sitting on the playground alone and off to the side she stared up at the sky and into the swirling clouds imagining a home where she was greeted with warm smiles and loving embraces. Where she didn't have to take care of her self and where she had her brother and a mother that loved her more then anything. But that dream quickly was lost when Roxy came and dragged her off the playground berating her for being late.

Somebody cries in the middle of the night  
The neighbors hear, but they turn out the lights  
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate  
When morning comes it'll be too late

Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel_  
_

That night Roxy drank her self into oblivion and when she finally woke in the small hours of the night decided to take all her anger and disappointment out on the defenseless Natalie. Dragging her out of bed and hitting her again and again she threw Natalie against the wall screaming that it was her fault that Rex was gone that she lost the rent money at the casino. Slapping her Roxy shouted that it was her fault that her latest man took off and that no one loved her.

Natalie took the punishment letting out nary a whimper, only letting out a sharp cry when her arm was twisted behind her and she was thrown against the wall. Thru the window she saw a light on in the next house and felt hope that maybe someone would help her, but that hope was dashed when the curtains pulled shut and the light went out. She began to cry softly as her small body was battered and bruised until finally her head connected with a table and she left the harsh world and drifted to a place where she would be loved and be happy.

When the neighbors finally got tired of all the noise it was too late for Natalie. Her broken and battered body was lifted into the waiting ambulance as her mother was handcuffed and put into a police car to be taken down to the station.

A young boy watched from the sidewalk, tears streaming down his face. He knew of Natalie but they had never spoke. He wished now that he had said something, anything, to her. He was 15 years old but he had found the little girl haunting. He had wanted to get to know her but now it would never happen.

A statue stands in a shaded place  
An angel girl with an upturned face  
A name is written on a polished rock  
A broken heart that the world forgot

Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel_  
_

10 years later John McBain stood in front of a beautiful angel statue and remembered that haunting little girl. It was then watching that beautiful angelic looking girl be carried out into an ambulance that had changed his life forever. It was that one defining moment that had changed his life forever.

Before his father and before Caitlyn it was the memory of Natalie Balsom and her tragic life that made him become a cop. He had failed that little girl by doing nothing, but he would spend the rest of his life trying to help others. Her death had taught him that if no one paid attention to the signs, to the pain, that the world would be a horrible place for everyone, just like it had been for her.

Looking at the overgrown weeds he bent down and uncovered the smooth nameplate at the base of the Angel statue. Natalie Balsom 1979-1987 it read. That was it, obviously no one ever came here and it was as if she had never existed at all, everyone had forgotten about the broken little girl. But he would never forget he thought as he imagined her standing there looking up at the sky like she had done so often in the past. His heart was lightened by the thought that at least now she was where she was loved. Touching that statue he felt like he had been in the presence of an angel even if it was only a concrete angel.

**The End!**


End file.
